2010 NAJA Convention Update

The 2010 NAJA convention will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota from Wednesday, July 21st-Saturday, July 24th, 2010.

Please check back often as we update the site with more details about our next successful conference!

President's Message

Native Journalists:

I humbly accept the responsibility to keep the Native American Journalists Association on the path set in its mission statement.

We have commemorated a quarter century of existence during the latest successful convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Mission Statement

The Native American Journalists Association serves and empowers Native journalists through programs and actions designed to enrich journalism and promote Native cultures.

NAJA recognizes Native Americans as distinct peoples based on tradition and culture. In this spirit, NAJA educates and unifies its membership through journalism programs that promote diversity and defends challenges to free press, speech and expression. NAJA is committed to increase the representation of Native journalists in mainstream media. NAJA encourages both mainstream and tribal media to attain the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and responsibility.

History

The Native American Journalists Association, based in Norman, Oklahoma on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, has a unique and challenging mission. Its primary goal is to improve communications among Native people and between Native Americans and the general public.

The work of the association addresses Native communications and encompasses a wide range of issues affecting the survival and the development of the Native media and Native communications.

Native leaders have been long aware of the importance of the media to Native communities. Since the establishment of The Cherokee Phoenix, the nation's first bilingual Native newspaper first published 1828, there have been continuous efforts by tribal people to address the news and information needs of their communities. Only in recent times, with the advent of modern communications technology, have the Native media progressed from a local and regional focus to a national and international scope to meet the communication needs of Native people. Out of this historical context came the influences, philosophy and Native experiences with the media which gave rise to the formation of a Native American Journalists Association.

In 1983, a group of 30 Native American journalists met at Pennsylvania State University to assess the state of the Native media and to discuss ways to nurture and develop Native communications. The conferees agreed that a national organization was needed to reinvigorate the Native media, address the widespread barriers and challenges facing Native journalists, and build on the strengths of Native communications. The conference participants agreed to meet again in early 1984 at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. At the meeting in Oklahoma, the participants created a constitution and by-laws thereby establishing the foundation for a national organization that they called the Native American Press Association (NAPA). The name was changed in 1990, to the Native American Journalists Association to better reflect the organization's broader goals and the inclusion of radio and television professionals among its membership. Prior to the name change, NAPA laid much of the groundwork for the present organization.

The following year, the founding members sought and secured its 501(c)(3) or tax-exempt status.